Brandon Livesay
Reporting from New York

Barbenheimer isn’t over, but our live coverage is.

We’re finishing up today’s adventures through the strange world of Hollywood.

We have been following mega-fans decked out in pink on their way to the cinema, we heard from actors striking against the major studios, we’ve touched on the stories that inspired both Barbie and Oppenheimer, and we’ve looked at how Hollywood has tried to claw its way back from the pandemic.

Both Barbie and Oppenheimer are on track to make a whole lot of cash this weekend, but the industry still faces an uphill battle to get people into cinemas.

Our writers today have been Chelsea Bailey, Gem O’Reilly, Jacqueline Howard and Chloe Kim. And this page was edited by Marianna Brady and Brandon Livesay.

Thanks for joining us.

Madeline Halpert
Reporting from New York

Let's check back in one final time at the Malibu Barbie Cafe in New York, where superfans have been hanging out before they go see the movie.

Priscilla Rivera brought her friends from Staten Island to celebrate her birthday at the cafe.

Clad in bright pink dresses and sporting several accessories, including a fake Barbie cell phone, the women say they grew up loving Barbie dolls. “I had the Barbie house, everything,” said Rivera.

They’re planning to see the movie later today to conclude a week of birthday Barbie festivities.

Meanwhile, Netflix released its Q2 earnings on Wednesday - which gives a snapshot into the streaming side of things.

It added 5.9 million new subscribers after a massive crackdown on password sharing.

But overall revenue actually fell short of what analysts were expecting, which caused shares to drop by about 9%.

Like Hollywood, the writers and actors strikes will also hit the streaming giant.

However, Netflix has a global production (South Korea’s Squid Game is the platform’s most watched show ever), so it will have some immunity to what’s happening in Hollywood.

The results show it’s not as simple as a battle between streaming and cinema, with both sides of the industry facing their own issues.

Annabel Rackham
BBC Entertainment reporter

Image source, Barbie Movie/Warner Bros

The amount of effort – and money - that has gone into marketing the Barbie film deserves discussion.

From high street fashion store Zara creating a collection that includes some of the film’s costumes to Barbie themed Xbox controllers, it has been impossible to miss all the hot pink promotional material around at the moment.

An actual Barbie Dreamhouse was built in Malibu, which could be rented out on Air BnB whilst Barbie themed billboards have popped up across the world, which just show the film’s release date.

Ynon Kreiz, CEO of toy company Mattel, says he aspires to emulate the Marvel universe that has spawned hit films for Disney through its cast of comic-book characters like Thor, Iron Man and Captain America.

His plan certainly seems to be working – senior brand consultant Moshe Isaacian says a lot of work has been put in to promotional material.

Isaacian, who's worked with Nike and Amazon, says many of the deals have been "a year, two years in the making" and that Mattel have been "very good at being selective".

"[They're selling] Barbie's lifestyle plan now - like this is how Barbie would dress up, talk, the things she would eat, what kind of candles she would have in her house.”

You can read more here.

The new Indiana Jones, The Flash and Elemental have been underwhelming at the box office so far.

And major studios will be hoping this weekend can provide a hefty profit injection into a sluggish summer.

But one movie that is not-so-quietly making a stir, all the way to a $100m box office, is the Sound of Freedom.

The independent drama with religious undertones tells the story of a government agent who busts a child sexual abuse ring operating in Colombia.

But this is not a typical summer blockbuster. A string of conspiratorial comments by the leading actor Jim Caviezel and the movie's themes have turned the film into another culture war flashpoint.

Angel Studios has both denied links to QAnon and distanced itself from the remarks of the star of its surprise blockbuster.

It hit the $100m mark earlier this week, made from a budget of $14.5m.

You can read more about Sound of Freedom and the controversy it has stirred up in this article.

Kesewaa Browne
BBC News

Barbie is just as fun, perhaps even funnier than I thought it would be.

I went in with reservations about the plot and wondered if the film would have a storyline that could sustain the one hour fifty minutes running time. I left pleasantly surprised.

It’s rich, vibrant and joyful (on the most part).

With Helen Mirren's witty narration, and a wonderful cast, Barbie is bizarre, heartening and heart wrenching all in the same breath.

Margot Robbie was made for this role, and America Ferrera’s character, Gloria, is charming in her own right.

After Gloria delivered an impassioned speech about womanhood, the audience in the cinema were clapping. From the costumes to the stunts - Barbie exceeded my expectations and is my film of the year.

Ryan Gosling's "Kenergy" was scene stealing.

He embodied Ken by portraying a real twist on the himbo stereotype and leaning into the role with real humour. Greta Gerwig has broken the mould and I'm certain Barbie will win a high number of awards.

Sam Granville
Reporting from Los Angeles

Image source, BB

Joe Russo WGA strike captain is standing outside CBS studios and even though he's on strike, he also wants to see Barbie and Oppenheimer this weekend.

But he is having trouble getting tickets with all the demand. Russo says that's a good thing for the writers and actors on strike.

"It's one less excuse for Warner Bros. Discovery and Universal who say they can't afford giving us a fair deal."

I asked if he felt betrayed by viewers going to see the films rather than standing in solidarity on the picket lines.

"We want them [the movies] to be celebrated just like we would want to be celebrated if we had something coming out during this time. It's just a weird moment in history," he said.

"Doing blockbuster business only makes me that much more excited to get to do it and get back to work under better and fairer contracts."

Asad Kara
Watching Barbie in east London

Image source, Asad Kara

My girlfriend Kat and I had been trying to organize a double date with our friends Steph and Dylan for months. We finally found the perfect opportunity, a screening of Barbie on its opening day!

Birthday girl Steph, who is an Australian like leading actress Margot Robbie, usually associates the word "barbie" with something else, but she's always been a huge fan of the iconic doll.

We're all excited to see how the usually down-to-earth director Greta Gerwig would adapt Barbie for the big screen.

As we made our way to a sold-out screening at the East London Genesis Cinema, the inevitable discussion came up about whether we were appropriately dressed.

We were all wearing customary splashes of pink and baby blue, but were we going far enough? Should we have dug out the miniskirts and Hawaiian shirts? Was this the new Rocky Horror Picture Show?

Regardless of our wardrobe choices we've been assured a life in plastic is indeed fantastic, we'll soon find out.

Image source, Asad Kara

Steven McIntosh
Entertainment reporter

Traditionally, the summer is when some of the year’s biggest blockbusters are released in cinemas.

As younger people are off school with acres of free time to fill, the major studios take the opportunity roll out their big-ticket films - which are usually in the genres of action, superhero and sci-fi.

But in the era of increased competition from streaming, getting audiences into cinemas is a bigger challenge than it’s ever been.

The issue was accelerated by the Covid lockdowns, which saw the public become more accustomed than ever to watching content at home.

Some of this year’s major cinema releases, such as The Little Mermaid, The Flash and Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning, have been performing below expectations. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny under-performed significantly.

Incidentally, the biggest box office hit of the year so far is the Super Mario Bros. Movie – released in March – currently the only film released in 2023 to cross the $1bn (£760m) mark worldwide.

Barbie and Oppenheimer might have little in common beyond their release date, but it’s worth noting neither of them is a sequel or superhero movie, usually two summer staples.

Studios depend on big hits to keep their bases covered and help fund smaller projects.

The industry will be watching Barbenheimer closely to see how the two movies perform not just this weekend – but for the rest of the summer.

Let's now pivot back to the burning question that fans have been debating for weeks.

We asked our Facebook page, external readers which of the two blockbusters you were planning to see first.

It was a mixed response with some people wanting to see the "pink world" of Barbie rather than the seriousness of Oppenheimer, and others saying the opposite.

Magnus said: "I rather watch Oppenheimer than Barbie. I'm not really into that pink doll stuff."

Michael said: "We plan to watch Oppenheimer on the big screen. We'll catch Barbie when it comes to the small screen."

Others said they loved Barbie but Melanie thought Barbie was "awful" so "maybe Oppenheimer is the better option".

As our film fans have been saying both films are incredibly different.

Owen said: "I can't imagine two films quite so inherently different - they'll both appeal to a different demographic."

You can have your say by clicking here., external

The cultural phenomenon that is Barbenheimer has made it all the way to the US Senate.

Some politicians are using the films to advocate policies, such as Senator for Georgia, Raphael Warnock, external.

Image source, .

In fact, it's become such a popular topic that more than two dozen senators weighed in with NBC News, external, "divided as ever" over which film they planned to see over the weekend.

Sam Granville
Reporting from Los Angeles

Jess Wiener is a cultural expert who worked with Barbie for the last 13 years, helping to make the brand have more body, racial, and ethnic diversity.

She's spent the last few years making sure this film is inclusive.

Jess says now is the perfect time for the new Barbie relaunch because we are finally at a cultural pushback.

"Millennial parents were really fed up with the over-feminised, hyper vanity focus for girls and toys... and I think they associated Barbie with having a limited, you know, visual aesthetic right? Barbie didn't look like every girl and boy in the world who plays with her."

But Jess says this movie is pushing back on those stereotypes and reflecting a society we should strive for.

"I think when culture is not helping kids play and see themselves it becomes compounded with that kind of stereotype and nuance."

Gem O'Reilly
Live reporter

There has been a lot of discussion on Twitter about the impact Barbie's image has had on young girls.

According to some research, external, Barbie's proportions would mean she would have half a liver and not be able to walk.

Mattel has since adapted, external newer editions with different sizing, but people are debating the issue online as the film premieres.

Rachel Shukert, external is a show runner in the film industry and said popular culture in the 1990s had a negative influence on her body image.

Image source, reut

"It was a very hard time in the '90s to be a teenage girl. When I was watching TV shows growing up I remember seeing actresses' arms become skeletal. Those influences in culture were toxic," Shukert said.

Jon Kelly, from an eating disorder charity called Beat, external, said Barbie can be seen as a "thin-ideal", which is harmful for people with body image issues or disordered eating.

"It’s important that we see diversity in bodies represented in retail and film," he said.

Both said they hope Greta Gerwig addresses these issues in the Barbie film.

If you have been affected by this post please go to BBC Action Line.

Sam Granville
Reporting in Los Angeles

I just spoke with Joanie and Cara outside a cinema in Los Angeles.

Joanie tells me, "I think I'm excited to see how the story is framed through the lens of a woman".

"I think you know, everything I've read about this movie and each piece of it is really seen through the lens through the female gaze, which is very unique in today's world and I can't wait to see how they tell that story."

Cara adds, "Feminism is starting the conversation about all of that, and understanding the pressures that the world puts upon us as women and as men".

"I think the male body image issues are very, very deep and they exist just as much and Ken has been blamed for some of that, GI Joe has been blamed for some of that," she said.

"So I think just starting the conversation is an incredible opportunity. And so in that sense, Barbie has been a feminist icon for a long time, because she has started that conversation for decades."

Gem O'Reilly
Live reporter

Image source, Tom Davidson

Tom Davidson is a film fan who is ready to watch both movies this weekend. He spoke about the juxtaposition between the pomp of Barbie and the seriousness of Oppenheimer.

“This has been a long time coming but there’s no getting away from how different these two films are.

One is a two-hour movie about a doll realising she’s a doll and the other about the journey before and after of the world’s first atomic bomb.”

Talking more specifically about Barbie, Tom said it’ll be interesting to see how screenwriter and director Greta Gerwig adapts the story around the 20th century doll.

He said: “There’s so much hype around the movie on social media, there’s a lot of pressure for it to perform. It’s an IP without a story, Barbie has nothing, she is a doll. So Greta Gerwig had a free rein to use her own license.”

Tom explained he thinks the hype around "Barbenheimer" is there because the two are so different but coming out on the same day.

He added: “With the attention on Barbie it’ll be interesting to see how Oppenheimer does. The two target audiences couldn’t be more different.”

Sam Cabral
Reporting in Washington

I come across Alexis and her two young boys, Jerry and Hank, admiring the Barbie dreamhouse replica set up at Washington DC's 'Barbie Pond' neighbourhood attraction.

She and her best friend grew up playing with a Barbie dreamhouse and camper.

"It's great they have a movie coming out," Alexis tells me. "The kids are excited about it."

As she describes Barbie as "a brand that has stood the test of time", a pair of older women stop by the pond and one remarks that, growing up, she had owned one of the earliest Barbie models ever made.

Alexis says toddlers don't do well in cinemas, so she might wait until the movie is offered on a streaming platform, but she and her husband plan to go watch the movie soon.

Guy Lambert
Entertainment reporter

The UK actor union Equity held twin rallies in London and Manchester this afternoon in solidarity with the SAG-AFTRA strike.

In London, around 200 union members from all corners of the industry came together in Leicester Square. Actors Brian Cox and writer Rob Delaney were present to support their colleagues, as were actors Andy Serkis, Naomi Harris, Hayley Atwell and Simon Pegg.

Equity general secretaries Paul W. Fleming and Bectu boss Philippa Childs were also in attendance, and Member of Parliament John McDonnell also joined the demonstration and spoke to the crowds.

Equity, a union with 50,000 members, has said it stands in solidarity with its US counterpart, though it’s not legally allowed to follow suit with strike action.

Let's continue to look into the events that inspired these two movies.

Resurfacing from the archives is a J Robert Oppenheimer interview with CBS News, 20 years after the bomb he helped develop was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

When asked whether, upon reflection, he thinks the bomb was necessary to the war, Oppenheimer says the decision by the US to use it “was arrived at by them in good faith with regret and on best evidence that they then had”.

“The ending of the war by this means certainly cruel was not undertaken lightly, but I am not, as of today, confident that a better course was then open.”

Asked whether he walks with a bad conscience, Oppenheimer says: “I think when you play a meaningful part in bringing about the death of over 100,000 people and the injury of a comparable number you naturally don't think of that with ease.”

“I believed we had a great cause to to this, but I do not think our consciences should be entirely easy... We had the pride of thinking we knew what was good for man, and I do think it has left a mark on many of those who were responsibly engaged.”

Chelsea Bailey
Reporting from Washington

Image source, Getty Images

Ruth Handler was an American businesswoman and inventor.

In 1942, she and her husband, Elliot, teamed up with a designer named Harold Mattson, to start a plastics manufacturing business called Mattel.

The company began by making plastic picture frames and used the leftover plastic to make toys and dollhouse furniture. Then, according to Handler's obituary, external in the Los Angeles Times, Ruth noticed her daughter, Barbara, had outgrown baby dolls and was more interested in paper dolls of teens or career women.

This her an idea: Why not make a doll that would encourage young women to “dream dreams of the future?”

Thus, Barbie – named after the daughter who inspired the doll – was invented. The plastic Barbie doll made its 1959 debut at the American Toy Fair dressed in the now-iconic black and white striped bathing suit and open-toed heels.

By the early 1960s Mattel had made more than $100m (£77.7m) in sales, thanks largely to the popularity of Barbie.

In her autobiography, Handler said she wanted little girls to know that they could be anything: “Barbie always represented the fact that a woman has choices.”

Handler died in 2002 at the age of 85.

Jack Burgess
BBC News Live reporter

I’m a huge admirer of Oppenheimer director Christopher Nolan’s work: Interstellar, Dunkirk, Inception, the Dark Knight Batman trilogy, the Prestige… wow, what a portfolio!

So I have deliberately booked tickets to see his latest film at the UK’s biggest cinema screen – London’s BFI IMAX. I probably won’t be dressed all in pink when I go, but I’m sure Oppenheimer cinema-goers are just as excited as Barbie fans.

Lead actor Cillian Murphy has been one of my favourite actors since way back in 2001, when he starred in fellow director Danny Boyle’s post-apocalyptic horror film 28 Days Later.

I’m looking forward to seeing if Murphy’s acting is as impressive with US theoretical physicist J Robert Oppenheimer’s soft-brimmed pork pie hat as it was with Tommy Shelby’s Peaky Blinders flat cap.

Oppenheimer fans… let’s unite and dress in beige!